Atomic Bomb Dome 原爆ドーム

Description

The Atomic Bomb Dome is the ruins of a building damaged on August 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. Also known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, recognized for its significance in the movement to abolish atomic weapons and work toward world peace. The Dome’s exposed iron beams and crumbling walls bear quiet witness to the terrible and merciless power of the atomic bomb. The Dome is located close to Aioi Bridge, said to have been used as the target for the bomb. The building was designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in 1915. At the time of its destruction, it was named the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It was a three-story brick building with a central five-story section topped by a dome. Since there were few Western-style buildings in Hiroshima at the time, it was well-known to residents. When the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima during the last days of World War II, it laid waste to the city. Although the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall avoided complete destruction, everyone inside was killed. After the war, the building’s piteous appearance earned it the name Genbaku (atomic bomb) Dome. In the decades after the war, the structure of the building gradually deteriorated. Public opinion was split, with some advocating complete demolition, but there was a campaign to save it and donations from Japan and abroad funded the necessary preservation work. Today, the Dome is part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park, which are dedicated to the story of the victims of the bomb, and which exhort the world to never use these weapons again.